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Mount Union borough

The WPA Built This School

View of Kistler Elementary Looking East-Southeast at End of Cedar Street. Building Constructed by Works Progress Administration — View of Kistler Elementary Looking East-Southeast at End of Cedar Street. Building Constructed by Works Progress AdministrationLibrary of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record. No known copyright restrictions. pa2824.photos.038903p

Kistler Elementary sits at the end of Cedar Street. The federal survey records two things about it that belong together: the brick school in the company town dates to 1936, and the building was put up by the Works Progress Administration.

A company built the houses. The government built the school. The children who filled it were the children of men making brick for steel mills two hundred miles away.

Sources

LOC caption pa2824.photos.038903p (HABS PA-5976)
Shedd 1991, Mount Union Refractories: Company town of Kistler (brick school, 1936)

Checked 2026-09-06 · Historic Mount Union collection

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Photographs from Mount Union borough

A ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes it

A ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes itShared by Myer Souders

Perspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division Street

Perspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division StreetLibrary of Congress · pa2853.photos.038950p

$View of Office Looking South. - General Refractories Company, Office, Market Street, Mount Union$ View of Office Looking South. - General Refractories Company, Office, Market Street, Mount UnionLibrary of Congress · pa2851.photos.038947p

“The New P. R. R. Station”, as Charles Welch's history of Mount Union captioned it in 1909.

“The New P. R. R. Station”, as Charles Welch's history of Mount Union captioned it in 1909.Welch, History of Mount Union, 1909 · stg08

$General Interior View of Packing Shed, No. 1 Works - Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, Packing Shed$ General Interior View of Packing Shed, No. 1 Works - Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, Packing ShedLibrary of Congress · pa2727.photos.134465p

View of Grefco Houses Looking South Along Water Street - Town of Mount Union

View of Grefco Houses Looking South Along Water Street - Town of Mount UnionLibrary of Congress · pa2822.photos.038890p

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